Pages

Wednesday, March 07, 2012

New Racing Shoes

A few years ago, Coach told me I should be wearing racing flats when I ran. What?! There's no way I'm fast enough for that. But sure enough I bought a pair, did a few practice runs in them, and wore them for both Boston 2009 and the Nike Women's Marathon 2009. Although they didn't have a lot of support in them, I absolutely loved how light they made my legs feel during a race - light and fast!

Then once I made Team Trakkers (now Team Rev3), I was so excited to get sponsored by Saucony. Saucony is, in my opinion, the best running shoe manufacturer out there. I FLOVE their shoes! My training shoes has been and still is the Saucony Omni. I also selected a new racing shoes, the Saucony Fastwitch.

During the time I was sponsored by Saucony (Hi Saucony, I love you!!!) my teammates were raving about the Kinvaras. But most of them were wearing them as training shoes, and I'm sorry, I'm not going to be part of the minimalist movement. However, these shoes have continued to be on my radar. Both my Brooks racing flats and the Saucony Fastwitches were a little too racing flat for me. I think they were meant to be more for 5Ks and 10Ks than half and full marathons. A few weeks ago I was at DSW and slipped my foot into a men's pair of Sauncony Kinvaras (they didn't have women's) and fell in love. This shoe had to be my next racing shoe. It was perfect for the longer distances. So I started to save my money and had talked to my local running store about them.

This morning I got my daily email from Road Runner Sports (I love you too!!!) and they were having a big sale on discontinued shoes. Not only that, but I am a VIP member, of course, which got me an additional 10% off and rushed delivery. These puppies will be on my porch this week. And I only paid $80 for them!!!

I had wanted the pink ones, but they didn't have them in my size. But these have green on them and allows me to continue with the Green Dragon theme.

What do you think? Do you wear different racing and training shoes? Have you worn the Kinvara?

While I haven't really joined the "minimalist" movement, I have been training and racing in Kinvaras since early last year. i LOVE them. LOVE. As a tip though - you can get last year's models on a lot of sites for well below $50 now. I snagged my most recent two pairs at DSW on clearance for about $24 a pair. I'm stockpiling these bad boys. i don't wear socks with them, and they are just so amazing. LOVE them. LOVE. i hope you enjoy them!

i haven't worn racing flats, but i do run occasionally in vibrams for shorter runs. i am a sauccony fan through and through, though. i'm on pair 27 of hurricanes. i started out with the 5's and i think they're up to model 12 now. love 'em and i can slip a new pair on and run 20+ miles in them without any problems.

trails are different, though, and i've gone through several trail shoes over the years. i think i'm finally settling on inov8. i've tried the sauccony trail shoes, and while they're nice and light, they don't offer the support and traction i need on highly technical trail.

I tried the Kinvara's a couple years ago and they were a little narrow for me foot.

Now I rotate through a bunch of different shoes with varying weight and drop: Brooks Pure Connect - Flats, Pure Flow - trainers, Brooks Launch - Trainers/recovery/long runs & then the Hokas for days when the legs are trashed. I also use the Brooks Cascadias for some trail running.

I Agree with you Meredith. I dont train in anything that is too low ( minimalist) and i love the kinvara's but i only use them for racing under 10k. I just got a pair of the ProMirage, they have a bit more to them than the kinvara if you want something a bit more sturdy to train in.

Love the kinvaras. They are minimalist-ish. Without being so fing pretentious and ridiculous.

My shoe choice depends on the distance more than whether it is training or racing. But I definitely choose more of a racing flat-type shoe for track workouts or anything 10k and below. Like the fastwich or kinvara.

I love race flats too. I've been running in KWiss KRUUZ and love them.I bought a pair of Kinvara's last year but didn't fall in love with them because they cut into my ankle bone and caused blisters and bleeding when I run without socks. But then on a whim I wore them with compression socks at IMCDA last year and stuck my back up shoes in my run special needs bag. Silly? maybe but they worked out! I don't LOVE them but I like them and throw them on occassionally.

I just bought my first pair of Kinvaras 11 days ago after a lot of consideration about them (though that was the first I'd tried them on). My previous shoes were the Saucony Ride 3 and Triumph 7. I've only done short runs and interval work with the Kinvaras, but like their general feel and plan to race in them in a 5k a week from Saturday. If they go well, I'm hoping to have my legs ready for them for a pretty tough half marathon on April 22.

My dead-neutral running and mid-foot strike makes me ideal for the Kinvaras, but I find myself thinking about foot landing with them. I've found that just running with my natural stride with them gives the best feel, but it's hard because I haven't worn a shoe with this low a heel-to-toe drop since using track spikes in high school, and that plays mental games.

I will check back here to see how your experience is with them, particularly in how fast you ramp up your longest runs with them (I'm only at 5-mile runs in them now).